I have a 2012 Diamondback Drifter 1 that I am doing "something" to. When all the random parts are on it we can fuigure out what it will be.

ANYWAY; it has a 1-1/8 inch quill stem, if I were to do so, as I'm hoping, will a threadless fork just slid right in? Would I need to carry over the bearing cups in the frame or just the top assembly? Or would it just slid in and all I would need to do is remove the top nut from the cruiser so the fork slides in and just replace it's spacers and whatnot?

Not that simple. The top race on a threaded headset is (duh) threaded and too small in diameter for a threadless steerer to slip through so you, at a minimum, need the entire upper half of a threadless headset. The lower cup, bearings and crown race of the threaded headset could be reused but, since you probably can't buy just the top half, you might as well install both new races.

Yeas ago when threadless headsets and forks first appeared, Shimano sponsored pro teams wanted to use them but Shimano didn't (and still doesn't) make threadless headsets. The team mechanics machined out the threads of Shimano headset upper races to make them fit threadless steerers but this was precise work and a stop-gap at best. Don't do it.

Simplest. fork stays in place, headset remains. as before

Quill stem is replaced by an adaptor , it is quill on the bottom..

and a Place to clamp the threadless stem on top,

+ a threadless stem of your choosing..


Cane Creek was the developer of threadless headsets.. a type which others followed..

A US company Chris King makes sealed bearing headsets.
his company does have a design where the threaded 2 nut,
and the threadless preload are a parts change, on top of the top race.
but it is a much more expensive component..

Yeah, my Trek 800 is done like that by me. I was just wondering if the threadless fork would slide in and if the top end quill parts would just need to be removed for it to work. I want to run a fork with a front disc and they are hard to find in rigid and quill configurations.

Then you replace everything .. fork ,headset , stem(you have that), and wheel + the disc brake parts..


it starts to be, in cost, close enough to consider: Buying a Whole new Bike
with disc brakes as standard components.

He'll probably have trouble finding a disc brake equipped beach cruiser.

Sun Spider a Fat Bike with 4" wide tires this season comes with a front disc brake ..

and kick back 2 speed coaster-brake rear hub.. you can ride those On the Beach.

Sold here, people ride out with their Clam gear an dig up food.

i would buy a new Richey 1 1/8 traditional threadless headset

i get them off ebay for about 20-25. comes in black and silver. work great.

thanks for the info. I may just wait and just swap a regular quill fork and just deal with the coaster until I can either afford the swap or a bike already how I want.

Well, I did it. I salvaged a Genesis V2100, the fork only needed the top bearing race. I reused the dust cap from the drifter1s original fork. next thing to do is put the disc back on the swift arriv wheel and take the tires that were on my mystery torqouis beach cruiser.

Actually, at minimum, you need (aside from a threadless fork and stem) just a threadless cup or cone to fit your upper bearing, which if loose ball, is likely to be a pretty standard size; it's probably the fit outside the race you'd be looking at. Also of course the appropriate wedge ring for the cup or cone, as these vary all over the place and usually don't swap well.

Although most threaded road headsets, and a few MTB ones, use a threaded cup; this upside-down style is pretty rare in threadless AFAIK so you'd probably need the whole half.

All you needed was one of these to convert to a modern threadless stem. But if you wanted a new threadless fork then getting a new top 1-1/8" threadless cone and the proper spacers, as well as a star-fangled nut, threadless bolt and top cap would be at minimum as Kimmo said above.

Just don't ever try and clamp a threadless stem onto a threaded steer tube on the threaded portion. That's a recipe for disaster.

i used the part of the upper threadlless headset the holds the loose bearings in the cup. the dust cover from the bikes original fork and a spacer. works great. i should probaly post the rest of the build in another section though.